Hats off to the auditor general

Mildred Chiri, the Auditor General (AG), or should it be the OG, has released her report for the 2019 financial year, yet again giving the public a glimpse into the messy world of government finances.

Mildred Chiri, Zimbabwe’s auditor general

But for Zimbabweans, the otherwise would-be newsworthy revelation that public accounts are in a shambolic state is no longer shocking even on a dry news day.
We have become so accustomed to the numbing levels of malfeasance by those entrusted with the country’s finances that it barely registers as shocking news.

Year after year, Chiri’s reports have revealed in great detail how various ministries and government departments turn a blind eye to laid down procedures and piss on basic tenets of corporate governance.
Recurring issues include poor record keeping of assets, the unauthorised movement of funds between accounts and failure to follow through on outstanding works, which would have been paid for.

In one of her reports, Chiri observed that in some ministries, there was no evidence that audit committees existed or were functional.

“In some instances, they only existed on paper, as there was no evidence of minutes or reports of meetings showing that the committees ever met to deliberate on the ministry’s affairs,” Chiri said.

“Thus, the committees are not carrying out their oversight functions on the financial reporting processes and reviewing internal controls, including the scope of the internal audit programmes and making recommendations on the appropriate actions that need to be taken.”
This would have been comical had it not been tragic, but the two lie inseparably close, like light and shadow.

Out of the 356 recommendations made by Chiri’s office in 2018 only 94 were fully implemented while 88 were partly implemented and 174 were not implemented.
It is as if the accounting officers just cannot be bothered by what Chiri has to say. One is left to wonder if they actually ever get to read the ever so damning volumes.

There have been calls to widen the AG’s role and give her more bite, but Chiri has previously indicated that she is satisfied with the parameters of her current mandate of auditing and reporting to Parliament.

“My reports are meant to help the executive and the legislature in making informed decisions in prioritising areas that need increased funding and strengthening in controls, for example,” she said.

Transparency International Zimbabwe is of the view that Parliament must champion the coordination and enforcement of the AG’s recommendations by the various oversight and anti-corruption institutions.

“This will ensure that the findings of the Auditor General remain relevant in promoting transparency and accountability in public finance management,” the anti-corruption watchdog said in a recent report.

In neighbouring South Africa, the Public Audit Act was recently amended to give the AG the power to sanction individuals as a mechanism to change the culture of non-responsiveness in the public sector and to therefore ensure accountability going forward.

Following the changes, the AG can now refer material irregularities to relevant public bodies for further investigation, issue a certificate of debt for failure to implement recommendations for financial loss and institute binding remedial action.

Over the years, Chiri’s diligence has been impressive, leaving all, even the uppity snobs from the private sector, in awe of her commitment.
Year after year, the AG has managed to execute her mandate on a shoestring budget, losing qualified and experienced staff to the private sector due to uncompetitive conditions of service.

This year, the AG acknowledged that the Covid-19 outbreak had made her already tough job even more difficult.
“I conducted audits at head offices of ministries and made very few out of Harare visits to outstations. I was only able to visit 138 (0,05 percent) stations as compared to 549 (14 percent) in the previous financial year 2018.

“This was mainly due to the inadequacy of financial resources, fuel and the outbreak of Covid-19,” Chiri noted.
“Resultantly, there were short working hours, delays in getting responses to audit queries, in some instances no responses came through resulting in limitation of scope, and remote work arrangements, which affected progress of audits. Virtual meetings became the order of the day to get the work done.

“The completion of audits was also affected by the fact that central government operations are not yet fully computerised, hence physical presence and physical review of documents was necessary.”

In a public service where mediocrity is the standard, the diligence of Chiri and her team continues to be a beacon of hope.
The AG’s work deserves more attention, if only to show the rest of the civil service that it is possible to execute their duties with professionalism.

Chideme is The Financial Gazette’s news editor.